Friday, January 30, 2015

The Life of Buddha Meets a Comic Strip

Can you demonstrate what you have learned about the story of Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) by encapsulating his life in a comic strip, like famed cartoonist and animator Osamu Tezuka did above?

Today's Learning Objective Know the life and moral teachings of the Buddha.

The Life of Buddha: Examining Multiple Sources Today we will finish learning about the life of Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) and how Buddhism originated. We will continue examining Buddha's life from multiple sources, including 'The Story of Buddha" created by the site buddha.net which you can find here, excerpts from our Social Studies Ancient Civilizations workbook posted on yesterday's Blog, and parts of the movie Little Buddha, all while recording and synthesizing key events from his life using the document Important Events in the Life of Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha).

Introducing the Comic Strip Many of you are familiar with comics and comic books, which generally feature a story told a series of panels which include illustrations and dialogue. See an example of the classic "Garfield" comic strip below.

I would like you to create a comic strip of your own focused on the Buddha, as a way of demonstrating what you have learned so far about his life and teachings. Ultimately, you will have a choice whether to create a comic strip digitally using an online program called ToonDoo or drawing and designing one in the classic style using paper and colored pencils and markers. Today, however, I would like everyone to play and experiment with ToonDoo in order to familiarize themselves with this new resource. First, head on over to ToonDoo and click the red "Sign Up" button. Next, select the "FREE" version like the one pictured below.

Next, you will see a screen (like the one below) that will ask you for your Username, Password, and Email ID. Please select a Username and Password that you can remember. Consider using the same ones you use for logging on to your Google Drive. As for your Email ID, enter your studentID#@pvusd.net, and then click "Register."

Finally, click the "CREATE" button, select a layout, and start playing! You may select your own characters, choose different backdrops, draw your own designs, add props and text, and even design your own faces for your cartoons. Have fun today!